LET IT COME DOWN

Andy W · Post by **Andy W** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 10:44 am

Ive been listening to this album non stop since it was released, does anyone else agree its the best Spiritualized album. I do think its one of the best albums ive ever heard, but no one seems to agree its their best?

will this do? · Post by **will this do?** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 12:54 pm

Non stop?

I mean, I quite like it... I certainly prefer it to Amazing Grace... but Non-stop for five years?

Post by **spzretent** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:09 pm

After much maligning Let It Come Down on this here messagae board I think it is getting better with age. As far as their best? I would say its better than Amazing Grace which I like the least of all Spiritualized releases.
Have you heard all the Spiritualized albums?

a beautiful noise · Post by **a beautiful noise** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 5:19 pm

this album will always have a special place with me.

yeah it's overblown, but it's just sounds so right.

i listened to it the other night and was once agin moved by it.

it's a fantastic album, but then again i really like amazing grace, i tend to listen to that more than any other spiritualized release.

it's just so fawking raw and in your face at times. and then it soothes the wound it just gave you. it really works for me.

xx

Alright? · Post by **Alright?** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 5:30 pm

let it come down could well be my favourite spirtualized album. its between that and ladies and gentlemen...

JPB · Post by **JPB** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:41 pm

It's quite heavy going. Lazer Guided for me!

Andy W · Post by **Andy W** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 8:24 am

I do as well think that Amazing Grace is the worst spiritualized album, Ladies and Gentlemen is a close second, but for me this album is by far the best work they have done, superb!!!

Meo · Post by **Meo** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 10:00 am

For me it comes in second to Pure Phase, it does hold some very special memories for me as I was living in Australia when it came out and was very drunk all the time in the sunshine having fun.

Aaaah great dramatic album!

jack white · Post by **jack white** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 3:21 pm

ha! when i first signed on (heh) here licd was poo-pooed and now its peoples second favourite!

whats happened?!

but yea, i dig it. for a while it was my favourite spiritualized record (then i 'got' lagwfis). the playful couplets of jasons lyrics, the anthemic quality of them (its the only spiritualized record where we've had drunken oasis-esque singalongs) and the wonderful orchestration and spector soundscapes make it a rather daring and breathtaking (though it could be said silly and overblown) record. the intensity and beauty of the music i think rescues it and makes it a worthy piece of the canon. its a nice step away from the shoegazer tendencies of the earlier records or the freeback-laden psych of lagwfis. and there is undoubtably a power in those lyrics and tunes, and there is always the stop button after wont get to heaven.

good times · Post by **good times** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:28 pm

licd was a little weird for me at the first listening. but as time passed, i loved it more and more.

straight and the narrow is beautiful, wont get to heaven is a real masterpiece, dont just do something is the one of the best thing that came from jason. the tracks are cool.

but is it the best album of spiritualized? for me, no.

nothing can beat lagwafis.

from start to finish, lagwafis is the soundtrack of my life. falling in love with the opening track, getting high with i think im in love, remembering her with all of my thoughts, feeling life with electricity, finishing the 2nd bottle with home of the brave, getting angry with no god only religion, finding happiness with cool waves and dying with cop shoot cop.

wow!

jason_godman · Post by **jason_godman** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:08 pm

LICD was the album that got me into Spiritualized, mainly due to my age. I was 17 when it came out so I was a bit young for Spiritualized before that I reckon. I couldn't get enough of it and played it for about 2 years all the time. Imagine my happy face when I realised that there were 3 other studio albums to explore, plus a live album! I then cried the first time I listened to Royal Alber Hall and it became my favourite album ever.

Post by **spzretent** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:47 pm

[quote="jack white"]ha! when i first signed on (heh) here licd was poo-pooed and now its peoples second favourite!

whats happened?!
quote]

There were always two sides to this message board. Those who love the old stuff and those who love the newer stuff. What seems to be getting poo-pooed in this thread are Lazer Guided Melodies and Pure Phase. My favorites fall exactly in chronological order.
LGM
PP
LAGWAFIS
Live at RAH
LICD
AG

Pat Garrett · Post by **Pat Garrett** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 3:45 am

I love LICD. Didn't J say at one point after its release that he wasn't going to bother another spending three years mastering and orchestrating such epic albums given the average sales and the media's general apathy? What are its sales figures?

I'd love to trade some of the LICD tour shows, if anyone would be willing. I saw Spz at the Riverside Church in New York just after the record came out, and I was in the middle of a depression that lasted another year or so. Probably my 10th Spz show. I remember sitting on the balcony knowing that it was some of the best music I'd ever heard, but I just couldn't connect. It was a million miles away. The demons were in charge that night. Great record though.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 7:06 am

this album brings me hope everyday

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 6:12 pm

it was fucking shit, apart from i didnt mean to hurt you and wont get to heaven, it had no balls and he destroyed lord can you hear me, but who am i to say its not my fucking album and i havent made great music like j, also what the fuck is that high hat all about that goes all the way through do it all over again ? im sorry, i just didnt believe him when he says im on fire on this one, i reckon it was shit because he was probably generally happy, having kids etc, and it is said that contentment is the enemy of invention ( artists make the best art when struggling, unhappy etc etc) i know this is a cliche but it does appear that way with j, floating in space is obviously a reflection of discontent (altough admittedly there are other emotions on it) and look where that album got him !

ORBITAL · Post by **ORBITAL** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 7:13 pm

I second that, Jig.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 8:05 pm

LGM had something different in itself. its sound was beautiful.(i cant describe it with another word. just beautiful).

PP was the mixture of LGM and orchestral arrangements with a strange mix. the album's sound was dreamy.

LAGWAFIS was the standout album of spiritualized. lyrics, orchestral arrangements, shoegaze, horns, choirs... (as i said before, "desert" part of Cop shoot cop is one of the most wonderful music i have ever listened in my life. choir kills me).

LICD was a little different. its too positive

but also, jason's most powerful songs are on this album for me. dont just do something, out of sight, anything more, the state im in...

AG fucks my brain. rocks my world. i still couldnt find the lyrics of cheapster though. rated x was great.

after all, LAGWAFIS wins, LGM comes second, LICD third, PP 4th,

...

AG - i dont know

Post by **spzretent** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 8:18 pm

Jig:
I would never pass judgement on Jason's lyrical ability or anyone elses for that matter. I rarely listen to the lyrics. Its the music i'm after.
maybe that explains why i cant stand 90% of Bob Dylan's catalog or that Richard & Linda Thompson Shoot Out The Lights record that critics rave on about.

Post by **spzretent** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:04 pm

i suppose I could re phrase what I said. Its always the music that draws me in first. Yes I listen to lyrics but would never buy an album because the lyrics are supposed to be brilliant. I got bitch slapped(not literally) once again by that Streets guy. It sounded like I was standing at a bus stop in Salford w/a beat box in the background.
If Bob Dylan is such a lyrical genuis he'd better spit out that mouth full of marbles he's had in there for the past 30 years or so. Who the hell can understand a word he says. It says a lot that I understood that Streets guy way easier than Saint Bob.

Fuzzhead · Post by **Fuzzhead** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:16 pm

Spzretent, you're going to have to brush up on your English geography!

Mike Skinner's a Brummie (a native of Birmingham).

Salford - think Shaun Ryder & Ian Brown etc.

Post by **spzretent** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:25 pm

couldn 't he have been in Salford for the day?

Fuzzhead · Post by **Fuzzhead** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:30 pm

I suppose so.

If you listen very carefully to your special edition Salford Streets album you can over-hear someone say: "Chips & gravy."

To a hip-hop beat of course.

Post by **spzretent** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:39 pm

its the only place i've been to where you can walk out of the pub and have a chinese man serve you a chicken and peas omlette on top of a bed of chips. Chungs Chippy!! Didn't have any gravy though.

Fuzzhead · Post by **Fuzzhead** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 11:06 pm

Chung's is sounding really tasty to me right now!

Post by **spzretent** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 11:36 pm

i've eaten there probably 20 times in my various trips to Lancashire

(correct?)
never sober. so the food always tastes incredible. hits the spot perfectly.

Simba! · Post by **Simba!** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 12:00 am

Ive liked it since i first listened to it. Not my favourite album, but has some of my favourite songs on it. Yes, its overblown and spectacularly over the top but damit, thats a good thing.

flamingrev · Post by **flamingrev** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 12:17 pm

Lyrics need to have a relationship with the music that benefits both, and that's it for me. As simple as the Ramones or dense as Bob.

Does anyone really have a hard time understanding the words that Bob is singing on his albums? In concert during his crap years, yeah, but you mean to tell me you can't understand the words to Mr. Tambourine Man?

Post by **spzretent** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 2:29 pm

Yes. I understand the lyrics to some of the earlier Dylan songs. To me he is more miss than hit. I have 6 Dylan albums.
Bringing It All Back Home
Blood On The Tracks
Planet Waves
Infidels
Basement Tapes
Time Out Of Mind
That represents what of his catalog I would ever go back and listen to again. And my favorite is probably Time Out Of Mind because of the long drone like quality.
I guess what really pisses me off about Dylan is what he used to do with things like the Concert For Bangladesh and The Last Waltz. Never really committing 100% to playing and letting George Harrison in particular twist in the wind while he made up his mind. Then at the last minute deciding he would grace the stage with his prescence and proceeding to ruin the whole chemistry on stage. And have to play more songs than anyone else.
Take Verve as another example. The music initially blew me away. And I listened to the lyrics eventually. Same with Spiritualized really. Though I was half way there already being a Spacemen 3 fan.

duppyconquerer · Post by **duppyconquerer** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 2:51 pm

I love Dylan's voice these days, seriously! It's different from his old stuff, but I honestly think it's just as good. The versions of 'It Ain't Me Babe' he has played since 2003 (started off heavy bassline driven, dark a dense; now abit lighter and euphoric) are pure genius. Proper grizzled old punky troubadour guy, sometimes he deliberately mutters and slurs the lyrics with such wild abandon. Recent versions of '...Baby Blue' are also better than the older ones. I have to admit he is best appreciated live, that's why I have a 'Dylan wing' in the house. There isn't an era of his I don't love. The boots from 58 - 62 are great as well. His Nashville Skyline voice, or just plain shouting!
As for LICD, I think it's great and has improved for me now it's 'lived in'. To me AG tracks sound better live. And I couldn't really pick a favourite from the first three. If a gun was put to my head I might go for Pure Phase. Though I would shout out "Laze....." just before the trigger was released. Then, from Hell I would speculate how if I had only said "Ladies and Gentlmen" then I might just be sipping cocktails with God and Jimi Hendrix in the bar in Heaven.

Post by **spzretent** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:35 pm

for the past hour or so i have listening to a Leon Russell anthology.
once again, to me, i get so much more out of his music than I do Dylan. that may be blasphemy to many but there is more depth and feeling in Leon Russell's vocals and lyrics. another one of those footnotes in musical history i guess.

duppyconquerer · Post by **duppyconquerer** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 4:04 pm

I think I've got a Leon Russell tape somewhere, I'll look for it later. Do people often compare the two?
Although I'm a fully fledged Dylanist I don't consider it blasphemy. He said himself , "Do I have an important philosophy for the world? Are you kidding? The world don't need me. Christ, I'm only five feet ten!"
I don't mind J, Dylan or anyone else singing about God, but think it's abit lame at the same time. For me it's alot to do with the intonation, as well as lyrics. With Spaceman, it's neither. It's just the sounds, like keep saying 'Jesus' and it stirs up an image...Shit! I'm starting to sound like Sam Salem, know I shouldn't have had that 8th cup of coffee. The best lyrics I have ever heard are on Oar by Alexander Spence, and a semi-crazed man wrote them. GZA from the Wu Tang Clan is also a fine lyricisist.

edit: I mispelt 'Oar'. The sundazed version is the complete one.

Post by **spzretent** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 4:16 pm

No one ever really compares the two but me. Leons lyrics aren't as topical as Dylan's. And Leon is Southern. But the whole package is similar to me.
I do own Oar. Great record. A rather influential friend of mine insisted i pick that up.

will this do? · Post by **will this do?** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 4:41 pm

flamingrev wrote:Lyrics need to have a relationship with the music that benefits both, and that's it for me.

That's why I'm enjoying these right now:

http://www.bootiesf.com/bestofbootie_2005/ ('till I get sickofem - pretty disposable).

will this do? · Post by **will this do?** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 4:44 pm

Fuzzhead wrote:Mike Skinner's a Brummie (a native of Birmingham).

Though to be fair, although he TALKS Brum, he 'RAPS' in Cockney (well, kindof).

flamingrev · Post by **flamingrev** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 5:17 pm

I couldn't pick a favorite out of the first three. Or four. I also think that if a gun were put to my head I would say Pure Phase, but it's so close.

I think part of my dissapointment with Amazing Grace was the lyrics. Let It Come Down had some really great lines, and as a whole the lyrics were well written and clever. On Amazing Grace a lot of it was starting to sound stale. ANOTHER Jesus song? J puts some pretty tight constraints on his subject matter, so it must be tough to make the lyrics consistently engaging. I worry sometimes that the Spaceman is going to paint himself into a corner and become a caricature.

I guess we'll see in a few months.... Or a lotta months probably.

natty · Post by **natty** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:02 pm

Lazer Guided Melodies is my favourite, Let it Come Down my least favourite.

It still has it's moments though, and the some of the lyrics are so well observed, Out of Sight and Don't Just do Something particualrly. I tend to skip through the first two tracks, as they're the only things Jason's done that I'd describe as anything less than good. And then turn it off before the butchery of Lord, Can You Hear Me? Not too big on "Won't Get to Heaven the State I'm in" either. I've not kept up to speed on who's come and gone from the SPZ line up recently, but I HATE the rhythm section on this album.

Gruff · Post by **Gruff** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 3:52 pm

I've always thought that Spiritualized is best live, and so that said the discography is also much better when considered as a whole rather than split into parts. There are bits about all the albums I love, and if they caould all be fused together... I guess that's why so many consider LAGWAFIS to be the best as I would suggest this accomplishes afromentioned task most fully.

That said, I do have favourites and would say I consider my opinion to be LAGWAFIS, PP to be my number one choice, followed by LICD and AG. I don't really get why everyone raves about LGM. I always think I must be missing something but I give it another go and still don't really get it.

I also think most peoples favorite albums by artists are the fisrt ones they bought and really got into-hence PP for me. AG does lack a certain overall quality-it's more patchy than others at times perhaps? and YES, do we really NEED another gospel o Lord Please Hear me in my hour of need type song? (a la let it rain on me) I mean, it's nice an all that but does it really improve that area of spz?

I agree with the comment about the rhythm section on LICD. In part, anyway. I imagine the band were best when in a more free composition than in the very structured and formal style of LICD, as I think I'm right in saying they are mainly still the same lineup?

I always prefer improvisation so I'd much rather a mix between AG and LAGWAFIS with the overall continuity of PP as my ultimate dream for a Spz album to a LICD tight arrangement. That said strings are ace and if only he could find a conductor that explores improvisation with a select ensemble then the effect would be very dramatic I think.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 5:03 pm

At the risk of veering off-topic, the statement about favourite albums being the first one they bought is deffinitely not true in my case, but alot of groups make one great album then nothing of worth ever again.